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Author: ShaneCaraker
Surnames: Kircher, Karcher, Caraker, Carraker, Kerriker, Carriker
Classification: queries
Message Board URL:
http://boards.rootsweb.com/surnames.caraker/5/mb.ashx
Message Board Post:
...and I do stress the term "Observation", as I'm quite new to all of this,
and there is a high probability of me being 100% wrong.
My source for this is essentially researching family trees published here on
Ancestry.com,
then looking at spellings and geography.
Here's a bit of what I know and assume:
My family records start with a Daniel Caraker b. 1828 in Union County Illinois going
forward till the present.
I know the "Caraker" (with a C) has been in/around Union County IL and more
recently a large population in the Perry County IL area. From what I've been able to
find thus far, I believe the "Caraker" spelling descended from Johann Philip
Karcher (b. 1722 in Valley, Miesbach, Bayern, Germany - d. 1807 Cabarrus, North Carolina,
United States).
If the info I have is right, the spellings timelines went something like this:
Kircher - late 1400s - Baden-Wuerttemberg, Germany
Karcher - late 1600s - early 1800s Rheinland-Pfalz, Germany
Carraker - mid 1700s, PA and NC migrations, but maybe just a typo on some entries
Caraker - late 1700's, possibly originating in NC. Current in IL.
So it looks like the spellings changed based on locations and moving away from the
families.
If the Kircher and Karcher is related, then based on the timeline of those names, I have a
suspicion, (maybe a guess) that the initial Kircher/Karcher split may have occurred in
conjunction with the Treaty of Nürtingen.
What I haven't seen in my lineage is Kerriker or Carriker, but that may be an
oversight on my part.
Anyone have any further ideas or insight on this?
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